What they are saying: Immunotherapy is transforming cancer care

New and innovative immunotherapy medicines developed by America’s biopharmaceutical research companies are transforming how we fight cancer and are providing newfound hope to patients.

Rather than killing cancer cells directly with traditional tools like radiation or chemotherapy, immunotherapy seeks to harness the immune system’s power to eliminate the cancer or slow its growth and ability to spread. Research shows immunotherapy is improving outcomes and survival rates for some patients, including kidney and lung cancer. In fact, the American Association for Cancer Research just released new research showing that for advanced-melanoma patients, survival rates are improving thanks in part to these new treatment options.

Biopharmaceutical researchers are urgently working to gain new insights into the complex interactions between patients’ immune systems and the cancer cells growing in their bodies with the goal of markedly improving outcomes in many more tumor types. With 836 medicines and vaccines in development for cancer, 80 percent of which have the potential to be first-in-class treatments, millions of Americans living with cancer have hope for a brighter future.

Stakeholders throughout the health care ecosystem are in agreement that new immunotherapy medicines are providing tremendous value to cancer patients in need. See what they are saying below:

Andrew Powaleny Andrew Powaleny is Director of Public Affairs at PhRMA. Before joining PhRMA in 2015, he worked at the House Energy and Commerce Committee and later as a communications consultant. Andrew came to Washington, D.C. via Connecticut and proudly sings with the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, runs with the DC Front Runners and serves on the Alumni Council for The Fund for American Studies. He is also a member of the National Lesbian Gay Journalists Association.